Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi Teleport Kit (AFi-RT) review: Teleport home with AmpliFi's new Wi-Fi extender kit

Ubiquiti Labs wants to extend your home network and let you access your home internet connection everywhere you go with its new AmpliFi Teleport Kit. It includes a mesh router and an extender. The router is designed to be part of a mesh network, so you can add additional satellites inside your home to widen the coverage of your home network. The Teleport extender is similar to mesh satellites, except it can extend your connection worldwide by using any Wi-Fi network or mobile hotspot outside your home.

6.7

Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi Teleport Kit (AFi-RT)

The Good

Setup was very easy and the app was a pleasant surprise. The Teleport device works as advertised, creating a VPN back to your home network.

The Bad

The router underperformed in speed and range compared to others I've tested and it doesn’t support beamforming or MU-MIMO. You'll probably need to invest in extra mesh satellite units for a more robust network and the Teleport only works with AmpliFi routers.

The Bottom Line

It's a trade off. For the price, the router will only give you mediocre home Wi-Fi, but the Teleport device is unique and gives you easy access to your home network and internet from anywhere in the world.

The Teleport creates a secure virtual private network (VPN) to the router, allowing you to use your home internet connection and access all your devices. With a VPN, you can edit documents, connect to your smart devices or bypass the site blockers on public Wi-Fi. You should trust your home network more than a public one, so being able to securely use your own internet while you are away from home is a great idea.

The AmpliFi Teleport Kit was originally launched via a Kickstarter campaign, but is now available for purchase for $230 (that converts to about £165 in the UK or AU$290). The "teleport" concept has lots of possibilities for people who travel often, but the router's performance is lacking.

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Innovative design with touchscreen display

The AmpliFi HD (High Density) mesh router is a white cube with a light-up base and touchscreen display. You can cycle through screens showing the date, time, upload/download speeds, IP addresses, traffic and port statuses. If you leave it in plain view, it will look just like a digital clock. It weighs less than one pound and the back is populated with four gigabit LAN ports, one gigabit WAN port and a USB-C port for the AC power adapter .

There is an additional USB 2.0 port on back that can only be used to charge mobile devices right now. Ubiquiti Labs says a firmware update will enable other uses in the future. That's disappointing, since having a connected network storage device would be ideal when you're away from home.

The Teleport is a small, white plug-in device with one Ethernet port for a wired device and a reset button. The front has an LED ring that flashes during setup and stays on when it's connected. It's convenient for travelling, but would have been better if it had a rechargeable battery, instead of requiring an outlet for power.

Overall, the designs of both devices are simple, sleek and nice to look at, which seems to be the style with most new mesh devices. The touchscreen is nice, but I'm not sure how much you'll use it, since it is just a display and not as interactive as you would hope.

Setup was a breeze

Past AmpliFi devices had very simple setups and the Teleport Kit is no different. You can use an app or browser.

I connected the router to my modem with an Ethernet cable and chose to set it up with a browser. Once the router booted up, I connected to the network and opened a new browser window. It prompted me to change the network name and password, and I had the option to duplicate the password for the router login.

The last step was using the touchscreen, which asked if I wanted to update the firmware. You will most likely need to do this, but it only took about four minutes and played a sound when it was done. Setup through the AmpliFi app was just as easy and you can use an Android or iOS device.

Setting up the Teleport device was a little more complicated, but it comes with an easy-to-follow quick start guide. You need to sync it with your router, so make sure to set it up at your home first before travelling with it. It will work with any AmpliFi router, so if you already have one, you can just buy the standalone Teleport device for $100.

I plugged in the Teleport, connected to its Wi-Fi network (different from the router's home network) and was prompted to create a network name and password. The name should be different to your home network and I highly recommend taking the time to create a secure, complex password. One downfall of the Teleport device is that when you use it on another network, the password is the only security measure. If someone on the public network can hack it, they will have instant access to your entire home network and internet.

Using two mobile devices when setting up the Teleport will be helpful as well. I needed to pair the Teleport to the router, so on a single mobile device, I had to switch back and forth between the router's network and the Teleport's network. You will also have to tap the touchscreen display when pairing and turn on remote access by connecting the app to your Facebook or Google account.

After the Teleport pairs with the router, you are ready to use it. You just need to plug it in and connect your mobile device and the Teleport to a Wi-Fi network outside your home. It did warn me that enterprise wireless networks are not supported, so you may have issues trying to use it at your work. Public networks like hotels, coffee shops and libraries should be fine. It will then replicate a local connection and act as though you are on your home network. You can use only one Teleport device per router. 

Surprisingly powerful app, but lacks some important features

The AmpliFi HD mesh router is dual-band and has an AC1750 rating, meaning it has theoretical speeds of 450Mbps on 2.4GHz and 1,300Mbps on 5GHz. The Teleport device only works on 802.11n, so it caps your speed at 300Mbps. And since you are using your home network to connect to the internet, your speed will also be limited by the upload speeds you are paying for from your internet service provider.

The biggest omission from the router is that it does not support MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output), meaning it cannot communicate with multiple devices simultaneously. The AmpliFi HD router also lacks beamforming, which allows a router to focus it's signal on devices to increase strength. Both of these features are optional in the 802.11ac standard, but almost all new routers have them.

In another odd twist, using the settings menu from a browser was way less helpful than the app. The only settings available from a browser are changing the connection type, enabling IPv6 , bypassing hardware NAT, enabling 802.11k -- neighbor report and enabling 802.11v -- BSS transition management. That's it.

The app offers way more, giving you access to a surprising number of features. You can:

• Create separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks
  
• Change the Wi-Fi channel and width
  
• Enable band steering, which automatically connects your device to the optimal band (2.4GHz or 5GHz)
  
• Turn on the guest Wi-Fi
  
• Hide your network name/SSID
  
• Dim the display and ambient light on the router
  
• Enable router steering, which connects your device to the main router, rather than satellite units
  
• Reboot the router or perform a factory reset
  
• Enable IPv6, port forwarding, hardware NAT, universal plug and play (UPnP), VLAN ID and bridge mode
  

Unfortunately, the AmpliFi Teleport Kit also has one feature I'd put in the "Huh?" category. There is an action button for "locate" that makes the router play a sound and flash its light so that you can find it. When's the last time you lost your router while it was still plugged in?

Teleporting home works great, but the router underperforms

As for performance, the Teleport did exactly what it said it would do. It gave me access to my home internet and network, letting me view files, stream video and access my connected devices. The router, on the other hand, left me wanting more for my home Wi-Fi.

On 2.4GHz, the AmpliFi HD router performed about average. At 7 feet away, I saw throughput of 133Mbps and it stayed pretty consistent up to 25 feet. At 50 feet, there was a drop-off to 94Mbps, but that was through two rooms and multiple walls.

The 5GHz tests are where I experienced disappointment. At 7 feet, the throughput speed averaged 431Mbps, much lower than similar routers I have tested. The real kicker was at 50 feet and two rooms away, which tends put a dent in 5GHz speeds, but not cripple them. I was very surprised at how much the AmpliFi HD router dropped off. Throughput averaged just 70Mbps. Some routers, like the similarly priced D-Link DIR-882 AC2600 router hit nearly 300Mbps on 5GHz at this distance. This could be partly caused by the router not having beamforming technology.

With all that being said, the router is still fast enough to keep your home network running smoothly, but it seems to have limited range and does not handle obstacles well. If you have a small home, this router should do fine, but medium to large homes would benefit greatly from additional AmpliFi mesh satellite units.

Should you buy one?

Setting up a VPN to your home network is a pretty cool concept. Security on public networks isn't always good, so it's nice to have a way to basically bypass those concerns. That being said, Ubiquiti Labs could have added some extra security features to the Teleport. It's still worth your time if you already have an AmpliFi router or mesh system. I haven't seen other major manufacturers with an easy-to-use device like the Teleport that connects back to your home internet.

As for the AmpliFi HD mesh router, I wasn't impressed by the speeds or range. Setup was super easy though and the app was better than many other mesh systems' apps. The router may work better with satellite units, which will cost you a little more than $100 each. It's your only option if you want the Teleport though.

If you want to stay connected to your home network when you travel, the AmpliFi Teleport Kit will get the job done, but your home Wi-Fi may not be everything you wanted.